A couple in Westbank have been ordered to move their home in Jubilee Mobile Home Park so the lot can be used for park maintenance.
Image Credit: Contributed
January 26, 2015 - 4:30 PM
KELOWNA – As the deadline to remove their home from Jubilee Mobile Home Park nears, evicted tenants Ross Arnott and Ed Schneider say they are now being threatened with legal fees incurred by the managers who want to use the spot as a maintenance facility.
The manufactured home, where they have lived since 2007, is on a large lot with a private dock and extensive landscaping. In January 2014 they received notification from park management that the garage they had been using was being reclaimed as a maintenance facility. The couple thought their rental agreement included the garage and fought the decision. They have since found out the agreement included only the garage door opener.
“This whole idea that they’re going to change this lot to a maintenance facility is beyond ludicrous,” Schneider says. “We’ll be watching once we leave to see what they do with it but my hunch is that it will be rented out to another tenant.”
Schneider says the latest news they've gotten is that the owners have once again included an item on the appeal that all legal bills be paid for by the couple.
“That would be the ultimate kicker,” he says. “That they would bankrupt us and then expect us to pay their legal bills.”
Schneider says they are now looking for somewhere to move their $300,000 home but haven’t had any luck at any of the other trailer parks in Kelowna or West Kelowna.
“I guess we’re getting a little paranoid but we’re finding the parks don’t have any space, even (at) places we know there are vacancies,” he says. “We can’t help thinking that (the managers) are telling people we’re trouble makers even though we’ve been model tenants and are being evicted through no fault of our own.”
The issue has since caught the attention of the public. As of Jan. 26, their Fundrazr.com campaign has raised just over $10,000 of their $45,000 goal. Schneider says the money will be used to move the home.
“The support from the public has certainly been gratifying,” he says. “But it doesn’t solve our problem.”
The couple have until April 1 to vacate the property and Schneider says he continues to have trouble contacting either park management or the owners.
“They don’t want to talk,” he says. “The only real option we have now is to go to court and we’re still trying to make up our mind about that. That would be minimum $20,000.”
Calls to the park manager and Princess Enterprises were not returned.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw at aproskiw@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-0428. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015